Imported syringes triggered meningitis in Sri Lanka

Health authorities in Sri Lanka have said that imported injection syringes might have triggered an outbreak of meningitis in patients who had received spinal anaesthesia in four hospitals in the country.

Two maternity and two teaching hospitals reported 14 cases of meningitis associated with spinal anaesthesia or other procedures, such as lumbar puncture, during a three week period last month, government epidemiologists said. Four of the patients have died.

Investigations indicate that contaminated syringes and needles might have caused …